Ziqian Zhang

Temple University, Philosophy Department, Graduate Student

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I'm primarily interested in the European tradition of political thought, with a particular focus on the theological grounding of politics. Current projects include Derrida's deconstruction of the Hobbesian sovereignty and Benjamin's account of divine violence.

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Peter Harrison

The University of Queensland, Australia

Ezra Sullivan, O.P.

Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas

Brian Trapp

Ashford University

Jonathan A Jacobs

John Jay College, CUNY

Jonathan Crowe

Bond University

Petr Dvorak

Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Felix Ó Murchadha

University of Galway

Ane Faugstad Aarø

University of Bergen

Matthew Jones

University of Greenwich

Anna Taitslin

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Malebranche on Moral Obligation

A moral obligation is binding upon us insofar as it has obligatory force. But where does obligato... more A moral obligation is binding upon us insofar as it has obligatory force. But where does obligatory force come from? Within the early modern theistic framework where Malebranche’s ethics is situated, there are two accounts of the source of obligatory force: rationalism and theological voluntarism. For rationalism, an obligation is binding because it is dictated by Reason, whereas for theological voluntarism, an obligation is binding because it is decreed by divine volition. Most commentators are inclined to read Malebranche as a rationalist, but in this paper I argue that Malebranche is a theological voluntarist. In spite of Malebranche’s commitment to God’s role in morality, I demonstrate that the moral arbitrariness of theological voluntarism, as indicated by the Euthyphro Dilemma, motivates Malebranche to constrain divine volition. Moreover, I show that Malebranche’s strategy of constraining divine volition rests upon a division – whereas obligatory force is grounded in divine volition, the content of obligation is grounded in Reason – so divine volition cannot arbitrarily decree what one is obliged to do. To summarize my reading, Malebranche is a theological voluntarist who tries to solve the Euthyphro Dilemma through a division between obligatory force and the content of obligation that ultimately constrains God’s legislative will.

Ziqian Zhang

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